freelance
/ˈfɹiˌlæns/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.68 in modern English
14
Scrabble Score
9
Letters
2
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Of or relating to a freelance; without a long-term employment contract.
Example Sentences
- "The objector, one Millworthy, a free-lance of journalism, was not to be so easily silenced."
- "The person you are revising (the revisee) is a colleague at your own rank, or another freelance."
- "I—I offered Richard the service of my Free Lances, and he refused them—I will lead them to Hull, seize on shipping, and embark for Flanders; […] Trust me, Estoteville alone has strength enough to drive all thy Free Lances into the Humber."
- "He was a freelance writer for several magazines."
- "Both work -- Jenny as a freelance writer from home, Marc full-time-plus as a civil engineer with a long commute. Jenny also takes care of their four sons, ages 20 months to 9 years, and homeschools the two oldest."
Etymology
From free + lance. Coined by Walter Scott (1771–1832) in Ivanhoe (1819; see quotation) to describe a medieval mercenary warrior or "free-lance" (indicating that the lance is not sworn to any lord's services). It changed to a figurative noun around the 1860s and was recognized as a verb in 1903 by authorities such as the Oxford English Dictionary. In modern times the term has morphed into an adjective, a verb, and an adverb, as well as the derivative noun freelancer.
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈfɹiˌlæns/
- British English: /ˈfɹiːlɑːns/
Usage
Inflected Forms
freelances (plural)
free-lance (alternative)
free lance (alternative)
more freelance (comparative)
most freelance (superlative)
freelances (present, singular)
freelancing (participle, present)
freelanced (participle, past)
freelanced (past)